“Sophia Antonelli of Earth. Please come forward and present yourself to the Queen of Viken.”
Holy fucking shit.
I froze. Gunnar chuckled, so I hit him in the chest. “You knew about this? What is going on?”
He raised a brow and walked me toward the sound of the Queen’s voice. She’d moved sometime during the cake cutting and the dancing and I could just make out her head above the crowd on some sort of stage.
In no time at all I stood before her and had no freaking clue what I was supposed to do. Bow? Curtsy—whatever the hell that was? Kneel? I’d never been formally presented to royalty before.
I settled for a slight dip of my knees and what I hoped didn’t look ridiculous, but Leah just laughed and motioned for me to come up onstage and stand beside her.
When I was up on the raised platform, I looked out over a crowd of hundreds of Viken citizens, all silent, waiting for their queen’s next words. I met Gunnar’s eyes, and the warmth and pride I saw there helped me relax enough to get air in and out of my lungs. I didn’t like being the center of so much attention. Ever.
Leah locked her arm with mine and continued to speak. “My friends, this is Sophia Antonelli, mate to Gunnar, Erik and Rolf of Viken United. She came to us, like I did, as an Interstellar Bride from Earth.”
Polite applause broke out, but lasted just a few seconds before silence settled once more. Leah took a deep breath.
“Not long ago, those who wish to destroy the new peace we enjoy on Viken made an attempt on my daughter’s life.”
Gasps and outrage filled the room, angry shouts mixed with shocked denials as Leah continued.
“But this woman, this stranger, saved Princess Allayna’s life. She saved my life. And then, she bravely traveled to Central City and helped our royal guards track down the man responsible for the attack.”
Shocked silence at that. I gave a halfhearted shrug. “The Queen of a planet calls and asks for a favor, well? What were we going to say?
Leah pulled back and looked up at me with tears in her eyes. “Actually, I made a trade.”
“Trade?”
Leah nodded. “Yep. They all wanted to be the first to have authentic alien art in their museums. The Smithsonian and The Louvre made me the best offers.”
“I don’t know what to say.” Thank you seemed grossly inadequate.
“You saved Allayna. I could never, ever repay you. There isn’t enough art in the universe to repay you.”
I wiped at the tears slipping down my own cheeks. “I didn’t do anything. Just got sent to the wrong place at the right time.”
Leah shook her head. “No. You fought. You took our place, willing or not. You helped track down a traitor. You were brave and wild and tough, everything I’d expect from a New Yorker.”
I smiled and hugged her one more time, ready to inspect the treasure trove behind me as one of the Kings brought little Allayna forward. When Leah stepped back, I expected the King to hand his precious princess to her mother. Instead, he placed the adorable cherub in my arms.
The party guests roared their approval as my mates came forward, surrounding me with their love.
Leah whooped and hollered like only a wild city girl could for a few seconds, before turning to me with a sparkle in her eye I’d not noticed before. She reached for her daughter and Allayna held out her arms, eager to be with her favorite person in the world.
I missed her small body immediately, but Leah’s knowing grin stopped me cold.
“What?”
“Being Queen has perks.”
“So you said.” I raised my brow. “Leah?”
Leah’s eyes filled with joy as she looked at her daughter, then back at me, deliberately dropping her gaze to my stomach, holding it there for a full three seconds before looking me in the eye.
My hands flew to my abdomen and I tried not to hope. “Leah, what perks?”
“I know everything that goes on in this place. And I know you went to medical after your adventure in Central City.”
“And?”
“Viken medicine is a lot more advanced than ours.”
“And?” I was ready to pounce on her if she didn’t start talking.
“Twins.” Her smile was radiant as she looked at each of my mates in turn. “And they’ll be born just in time to keep Allayna’s little sister company. Maybe they’ll have tea parties. Hell, art parties. And we can have so much fun dressing them up. Ribbons and dresses and I’m going to ask my guys to import some Disney movies. You know, like Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast.”
“Frozen and Rapunzel.” I had to get my requests in now. “And you said—you’re pregnant?”